A healthcare worker administers a dose of Covid-19 vaccine to a beneficiary, at Gateway of India, in Mumbai. (PTI)A surge in Covid-19 cases across the state since the beginning of this month has seen 22,410 patients getting infected till June 12. While this number is more than double the infections registered in May — when Maharashtra recorded 9,815 cases — the fatality rate stood at a mere 0.04 per cent between June 1 and 12. In May, it was 0.18 per cent.
Due to less severity of the infection, most patients are recovering within two to three days at home, pushing up the number of home quarantine patients to 1.21 lakh in the state.
Due to the sudden spike in cases, between June 1 and 12, 22,410 patients got infected. Among them, 10 patients lost their lives.
“The state is hardly recording any deaths. Most of the recent deaths have been recorded among the elderly who had more than one comorbidity,” said Dr Avinash Supe, in charge of the Covid-19 death committee. As per state data, since the start of the pandemic, most deaths have been reported in the 71-80 age group.
Though recent reports indicate the presence of new Omicron variants in a few cities of India, they are unlikely to become “variants of concern”, doctors claimed. Due to mild severity, most patients aren’t even requiring steroids or Remdesivir as seen in the previous waves.
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Dr Manjusha Agarwal, senior consultant (internal medicine) at Global Hospital in Mumbai, said, “I have observed that the new patients are getting better in 48 to 72 hours. Nobody has required remdesivir or immunotherapy. They do not have major complications. So, the good thing is that vaccination has helped.”
The most common symptoms are fever and diarrhoea or stomach cramps. Cough and loss of sense of smell have become rare now. Most importantly, the symptoms do not last more than three days in most cases, said doctors.
Dr Rahul Tambe, senior consultant (internal medicine and infectious disease), Nanavati hospital, said he hasn’t observed any cases of black fungus or other superadded infections, which were common after the first and second waves due to excessive use of steroids and advanced anti-viral medication such as remdesivir.
“However, this increases the chances of exposure and even young patients traveling regularly are getting infected. Though cases are rising, the hospitalisation rate is still low,” said Dr Tambe.
“Herd immunity and vaccine coverage will help and infection severity will decrease gradually before it’s akin to the common cold or flu,” he added.
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